1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of appliances and, more particularly, to a locking mechanism for the door of an appliance.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The desire to lock an access door of an appliance in a closed position for various reasons is recognized in the art. Particularly, it is often desired to assure the positive locking of an appliance door during certain operating modes for safety reasons. For instance, the need for an access door locking arrangement is particularly realized in horizontal axis or tumble-type washing machines. As the basket of such a washing machine is caused to rotate at a relatively high speed during a spin mode, if the access door was permitted to be inadvertently opened at this time, an injury may be inflicted upon an operator's limb by the rotating basket. Due to at least this safety concern, it is now a UL requirement that any horizontal axis washer manufactured in the United States lock the door during a spin mode of operation or the appliance must stop within a limited time period.
Of course, the need to incorporate a locking mechanism in an appliance adds to the associated manufacturing costs. In addition, the need to provide a locking mechanism introduces certain design constraints and considerations. For example, given the life expectancy of typical household appliance, the locking mechanism must be effectively designed for reliable operation over a prolonged period of time. Therefore, the mechanism must accommodate manufacturing tolerances and possible relative shifting between the access door and a cabinet of the appliance over its useful life in order to avoid the need for independent adjusting of the locking mechanism for proper operation.
Although various locking mechanisms for washing machines and other appliances have already been proposed in the art, in general, these known arrangements are considered to have shortcomings, e.g. in the ease of assembly thereof, associated cost and/or the need to be periodically adjusted over time, such that presently a need exists in the art for an improved mechanism for reliably locking the access door of an appliance.